MAVERICK HUNTER HQ DATA FILE #CLASSIFIED

SUBJECT: ESPRIT ROUSSEAU

STATUS: MAVERICK

CRIMES: MURDER, TERRORISM, MEMBERSHIP OF AN ILLEGAL ORGANIZATION

RETIRE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE

"X, what are you thinking about?"

Zero's talking to me. But he feels miles away, even as we're being driven to the last recorded location of the Maverick. I look at this guy's picture. He's young. He's got idealism written all over him. But he must have snapped like a twig if he's doing this.

I shake my head.

"I don't know, Zero…I'm just…thinking about the target."

"My advice? Don't. We've got a job to do, sad as it is. We're doing him a favour."

"I guess so."

The van pulls to a halt. I leap out, buster readying but not drawn. Zero's got his saber nearby.

That's when we see him. Esprit. He's just perched on a bunch of rubble, a dead human nearby.

"Esprit Rousseau? Put your hands in the air. I don't want this to have to be painful." I say, trying to be tough but reassuring.

Esprit just throws his hands up.

"What's the use?" he sighs. "I'm here. I'm not going to fight back. After all, what would be the point? I killed, I went Maverick, and it didn't change a damn thing."

I lower my arm, slightly.

"I'm a whore, X. I mean, I literally am a whore. I was built for that, and that alone."

Zero just stares at him.

"That's not possible…" I hear him say, "Reploids have free will."

Esprit just shakes his head, sadly.

"I wasn't a legitimate build. I was built by a bunch of pirates and smugglers on the coast. They wanted to make a perfect skin job. One who could love like a human, but then they didn't get that I wasn't just a mindless machine. When the coast guard shut them down, I got taken back to a city I never knew and didn't understand. There…I fell in love with a beautiful woman. Her name was Magdalena. She and I loved each other…but, well…it was not to be. Everywhere we went, they threw rocks at us. Called me "skin job" and "fuck machine." They called her a whore and it bothered me. Every day it ate away at me…and then one morning I woke up to find her gone. She left a note saying to go on without her. I found her dead in the bath. She'd killed herself. So I finally lost it. I ran into the Sons of Sigma and took them up on their offer because I lost the one thing that mattered. Love. So I shot a bunch of humans, but you know what? It didn't help. I wanted a world where Reploids could love…she wanted a world where we could be together forever. There is no world for Reploids like me. The zealots in the street told her she'd go to hell. Me? I can't go anywhere. I'm a machine. I'll just embrace oblivion…Magdalena…you deserved so much better…"

That's when I see him reaching for his pistol…I ready my buster but I'm not fast enough. Zero isn't either. Something's holding Zero back. Esprit takes the pistol and blows his processor out.

Within mere minutes, the cleanup crew gets here and we board the van, ready to get the dressing-down from Signas.

Surprisingly, he isn't mad.

"I saw the whole thing." He calmly explains. "Experimental camera tech I've been testing. The Maverick was eliminated. The mission was accomplished. No further casualties."

I sigh.

Signas gives a calm smile.

"X, it's been a hard day. Go take a rest. Zero, you too. You've earned it."

So I just head back to my quarters and lie on the bed, putting my helmet aside. I stare at the ceiling, hoping to sleep a little, but I can't. Esprit's words are weighing too heavily on my mind. And I swear I can hear a sound, somewhere beyond my room.

A sound like soft, artificial tears.

A sound like the remembrance of a broken heart.

As I hear it, the iris in my window withers and dies…

And I understand what he's feeling.

/END OF CASEFILE/